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Ministry of Education
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IIT Bombay honours its women alumni through a first-of-its-kind initiative
Falguni Nayar and Diana Edulji attends ‘IIT Bombay Gen Zero Women Initiative.’
:Mumbai, September 23, 2022
IIT Bombay honoured and celebrated the remarkable achievements of 30 of its women alumni with a special event, ‘IIT Bombay Gen Zero Women Initiative.’ The initiative saw the launch of a coffee table book, ‘Her Story- IIT Bombay Gen Zero Women,’ written by Ms. Rashmi Bansal , and a podcast series on September 23, 2022, at the IIT Bombay campus.
All of the Institute’s 30 women alumni, who represent the initial years of IIT Bombay since its establishment in 1958, were felicitated at this occasion, including two Padma Shri awardees - Dr. Rohini Godbole [Distinguished Alumna ; M.Sc., 1974, Silver Medallist]; Ordre national du Mérite; Honourary Professor, Centre for High Energy Physics, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore and Dr. Sharada Srinivasan [Distinguished Alumna , B.Tech., Engineering Physics, 1987), Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore.
The distinguished alumna also included Honourary Fellow, University of Exeter, UK, as well as Officer of the Order of Australia  Dr. Marlene Kanga [Distinguished Alumna , B.Tech., Chemical Engineering, 1976); Non-Executive Director at Sydney Water Corporation, Air Services Australia and Standards Australia; Past President, Engineers Australia and World Federation of Engineering Organisations; Past Board Member, Innovation Australia; 2012, Member of the Order of Australia.
Several of the other high-achiever alumni who were also felicitated at the event include:
- Dr. Anuradha Narasimhan, ; Professor of Practice and Head, Desai Sethi School of Entrepreneurship , IIT Bombay; Director, Africa Improved Foods, Rwanda; Director, Frontier Nutrition, Bangladesh
- Dr. Aruna Joshi, ; Vice President, Model Risk Management at Visa; Adjunct Faculty at the University of San Francisco
- Ms. Damini Kumari ; Leadership, Performance and Life Coach; Mindfulness Trainer
- Dr. Geeta Narlikar ; Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics; Lewis and Ruth Cozen Chair, University of California, San Francisco
- Ms. Girija Sudhakar Ram, ; Executive Director at Newgen Digitalworks; Founders’ and Promoters’ Group Member, Mastek; Trustee/ Director, Bhavitha Foundation
- Dr. Jayshree Kalpathy-Cramer ; Chief, Division of Artificial Medical Intelligence, Department of Opthalmology, University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus; Associate Professor of Radiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School
- Dr. Kavita Bala ; Professor, Cornell University and the Dean of the Cornell Ann Bowers College of Computing and Information Science
- Dr. Kavita Ramanan ; Roland George Dwight Richardson Professor and Associate Chair at the Division of Applied Math at Brown University; Associate Director at the Institute of Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics , Brown University
- Ms. Leja Hattiangadi , Adjunct Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Bombay; Independent Director on the Board of Alkyl Amines Chemicals Ltd., Artson Engineering and Aether Industries
- Dr. Meena Mahajan ; Professor, The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai
- Dr. Mukta Farooq ; Heterogeneous Integration Leader at IBM Research; IBM Distinguished Research Staff Member; IBM Lifetime Master Inventor with 224 granted US patents
- Ms. Neera Adarkar [Industrial Design Centre , 1974]; Architect, Urbanist, Adarkar Associates; Founder, Trustee, and Chairperson, School of Environment and Architecture, SEA
- Dr. Prakriti Tayalia ; Associate Professor, Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, IIT Bombay
- Dr. Preeti Rao ; Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Bombay
- Dr. Radha Nayak ; Vice President of Business Development and Marketing at LAM research
- Ms. Rekha Koita ; Co-Founder, Koita Foundation; President, CMU, Mumbai Alumni Network
- Ms. Revathi Kasturi ; Founder & CEO, LAQSH Job Skills Academy
- Dr. Rinti Banerjee ; Madhuri Sinha Chair Professor at the Department of Biosciences & Bioengineering at IIT Bombay
- Dr. Roopa Ramamoorthi ; Senior Associate Director for the Catalyst Program and Innovation Ventures  Philanthropy Fund at the University of California, San Francisco
- Dr. Sarita Adve ; Richard T. Cheng Professor of Computer Science at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- Ms. Shalini Govil Pai ; VP and GM, TV@Google
- Ms. Shivani Govil ; Chief Product Officer, CCC Intelligent Solutions
- Dr. Surya Mallapragada ; Associate Vice President for Research at Iowa State University, Anson Marston; Distinguished Professor and Carol Vohs Chair Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering
- Dr. Susan Thomas ; Research Professor of Business, Jindal Global University; Senior Research Fellow and Co- Founder at XKDR Forum, Bombay
- Ms. Svati Bhogle ; CEO, Technology Informatics Design Endeavor ; Founder, Sustain Tech India; President, Clean Energy Access Network, an industry association of distributed renewable energy enterprises in India
- Dr. Veena Srinivasan ; Director, Centre for Social and Environmental Innovation; Senior Fellow at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment 
- Dr. Vijaya Korwar Gallagher ; Chief Architect, Space Segment, Globalstar Advisor, Sky Quantum
The event was presided over by Ms. Diana Edulji, Padma Shri awardee and the former captain of the Indian Women’s Cricket Team, and Ms. Falguni Nayar, Founder, and CEO, Nykaa.
The evening culminated with a lively and spirited Q&A session as the young, curious, and bright minds of IIT Bombay interacted with Ms.Edulji as well as the Institute’s women alumni achievers.
‘Her Story- IIT Bombay Gen Zero Women,’ and the podcast series highlight the inspiring journeys of IIT Bombay’s alumnae from diverse fields such as research, business, academia, technology, public service, and more. The book and the podcast also depict the challenges the Institute’s alumnae have overcome, the life lessons they have learned, as well as the critical role their educational and networking experiences at IIT Bombay have played in shaping them into strong and powerful women.
Speaking at the occasion, Ms. Falguni Nayar, said, “It is heartening to see the progress we have collectively made towards true equality – at the workplace and everywhere else. I believe women can do anything they set their minds to. Don’t let others dictate your path. Trust your gut and take calculated risks. Take the plunge into whatever it is you choose to do, at whatever point of your life. No matter what the switch, your previous experience will always bring with it transferable skills and connections that you can use as stepping stones.”
Sharing her thoughts, Ms. Diana Edulji said, “For the longest time, cricket was perceived as a gentlemen’s game. As someone who loved cricket, I had to break many barriers and find my own way to get past that mindset. The ‘IIT Bombay Gen Zero Initiative’ celebrates the power of women, and is a cause that holds a special place in my heart. I firmly believe that more of these initiatives will encourage women to believe that nothing is impossible and allow them to follow their dreams.”
Talking about the ‘IIT Bombay Gen Zero Women Initiative,’ Prof. Subhasis Chaudhuri, Director, IIT Bombay, said, “With their extraordinary accomplishments, our alumnae have inspired the present and future generations at the Institute to break more glass ceilings and we are extremely proud of their dedication, commitment, and resilience. The Institute is dedicated to the cause of gender equality and hopes that more women will be inspired by these trailblazing alumnae and pursue STEM  fields.”
Commenting about the initiative, Dr. Rohini Godbole said, “In these days of raging debates about reasons why the fraction of women students qualifying through JEE is less than that among the applicants, it is refreshing to see this long list of women achievers from IIT Bombay. I am pleased that IIT Bombay has decided to recognise its alumnae! Women may have been small in numbers then but not in their level of contributions and achievements. Let us hope that the tribe continues to increase, succeed and excel! ”
‘IIT Bombay Gen Zero Women Initiative’
The ‘IIT Bombay Gen Zero Women Initiative,’ was conceived to celebrate the accomplishments of women who have graduated from the Institute within the initial years of its establishment in 1958. Through this initiative, the Institute salutes its women alumni for their stellar contributions and makes their personal and professional trajectories heard and seen. The larger objective of this initiative is to empower newer generations, especially young women, to choose IIT Bombay as their go-to educational institution and continue the legacy set by its women alumni. The ‘IIT Bombay Gen Zero Women Initiative,’ has been made possible through the generous grant by the Institute’s alumnus Mr. D.C. Agrawal [B.Tech , Mechanical Engineering, 1969), and his late wife, Ms. Renu Agrawal.
Learn more about the women and their journeys here: https://alumni.acr.iitb.ac.in/womengenzero/herstory.html